THE IVORY SOUTH GERMAN, LATE 17TH CENTURY, THE SILVER WITH SPURIOUS NUREMBURG MARKS, 19TH CENTURY

This elaborate tankard sleeve is from a group of, compositionally, very similar ivories depicting the vanquishing of Ottoman troops at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Judging by the large number of surviving tankards depicting the same scene it seems clear that they were made for commemorative purposes. Unfortunately none of these pieces, such as a version in the Cabinet des Medailles, Paris (Tardy, Les Ivoires, Paris, 1972, p. 162-3) or the ones that have appeared at auction (Christie's, London, 11 July 1985, lot 94, and 6 June 1993, lot 15 or Sotheby's, London, 10 December 1992, lot 247), can be attributed to a particular artist but on the basis of style they all appear to have been carved in the last decade of the 17th century.

The large-scale battle of Vienna was won by a conglomeration of Polish, Austrian and German forces commanded by the King of Poland, John III Sobieski. The defeat of the Ottoman forces was an important turning point in the European balance of power, and marked the beginning of the political hegemony of the Habsburg dynasty in central Europe.